Emily Lazration — November 11, 2019 
089photoshootings / Pixabay
As a business owner, you might be looking for new ideas to stay ahead of the competition. One of the best ways to do so is through an employee recognition program.
Employee recognition is an important part of a company’s culture and it is one of the key ways to help inspire employees. You need to keep your workers motivated to increase productivity and an employee recognition program can be the best strategy to motivate your team.
For an employer, an effective employee recognition program can get you a major return on your investment.
What is Employee Recognition?
Employee recognition is the formal, informal, or timely acknowledgment of a team’s or an individual’s behavior, efforts and business outcomes that support the goals and values of the business. Appreciation is a basic human need and your employees want to feel valued and respected for their dedication and contribution to the growth of the company. Acknowledging their work can go a long way in encouraging them to keep their performance up.
What are the benefits of Employee Recognition?
Lack of appreciation is one of the most common reasons people leave a company. Employee recognition is something that can help you in improving employee retention, thereby cutting down on the cost of recruiting and training new employees.
There are several other benefits associated with an effective employee recognition system:
- Improved individual productivity
- Higher satisfaction from clients
- Greater employee satisfaction
- Improved employee retention
- Lower stress and absenteeism
What Costs are Involved in Building an Employee Recognition Program?
- Time spent to plan, design and implement the recognition program
- Cost of introducing the program to the company
- Time and cost related to teaching managers how to give recognition
- Time and cost spent on giving recognition
Don’t let the cost deter you, it’s important to keep in mind that this is an investment in your company.
How to Make An Employee Recognition Program Successful
Rather than starting a program with a focus only on your employees, why not start it around what makes your company more successful. It sounds counter-intuitive in the beginning but makes sense later. So, begin by targeting the high-profit generators and use them as criteria for earning rewards.
For instance, a restaurant may focus on the sale of alcohol, appetizers, and desserts as performance metrics. And the servers who make the most sales of these items get more recognition. The same strategy is applicable to the back-of-the-house staff. The employees in the kitchen who lower food cost and food waste should get rewards because they are saving you money.
Businesses that do not deal with direct sales can still find other things that can help them in making a positive impact on their business goals. For example, the hospitality and hotel industries use client feedback and survey forms. Staff with positive comments and high satisfaction points from the guests should get recognition and rewards.
Overall, to reap the best ROI (Return On Investment) from an employee recognition program, businesses need to tie the goals of the employee recognition program to the goals and success of their companies. If you do so, you’re definitely going to make profits from your employee recognition program.
The Key Takeaway
It’s no surprise that employee recognition is a key factor for success in any organization. An effective employee recognition program results in higher employee engagement and higher ROI. Your employees will be happy because they will get an appreciation for their work and you will be happy because your business will get the rewards of higher sales and profits.
Above all, the best part of an employee recognition program is that the cost of implementing this program is not a factor you need to consider as it will pay for itself ten times over. So, introduce an employee recognition program to your business today and take your business to the next level!
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